Turkey sets its sights on Med oil

TURKISH OIL company TPAO will issue a tender in May for a foreign partner for its exploration licence in the eastern Mediterranean, TPAO exploration director Ahmet Faruk Oner said yesterday.

He told Reuters the exploration licence covers regions off the coasts of Antalya, Mersin and the Iskenderun Gulf.

The issue of oil exploration has become controversial in the eastern Mediterranean amid objections by Turkey and Turkish Cypriots to a decision by the Cypriot government to launch a round of offshore exploration licences.

Cypriot government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis told the Cyprus Mail yesterday he was unaware of the move and could not comment.

“We will issue advertisements in May for the farm-out tender for the licence which we have in the Mediterranean,” Oner said.

He said TPAO had not yet held any talks with international partners.

Companies interested in taking part in the tender will be invited to Turkey and will be given between one and three days to assess data related to the licenses before deciding if they want to participate.

“Our general expectation is that this assessment process will be completed within three months,” he said.

Exploration will initially be held in a region up to 12 nautical miles off the Turkish coast and then the areas further out to sea and to the south of Cyprus will be assessed.

Cyprus has previously said that US, Russian and Chinese oil firms have shown interest in their licences but the administration in the north has said any such deals would be invalid as the government does not represent the whole of the island.

Turkey has also objected, saying the move could stoke tension in the region. (R)

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.